Robert Sidney Maestri was elected Mayor of New Orleans, without opposition, for a term ending 1942. The inauguration took place August 17, 1936, the oath of office was administered by Associate Justice Archie T. Higgins of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Applauding throngs heard him pledge himself to a businesslike administration and make an appeal for the correction of the many sore spots to our progress in health, housing and citizenship. He stressed the point that the Federal Government had been unable to formulate its plan because it was blocked by Political warfare, and he looked to the future accomplishments through local efforts and co-operation.

Robert Maestri was born in New Orleans, on the corner of Bayou Road and Robertson Street, December 11, 1889 of Italian ancestry, son of Francis and Angele (Lacabe) Maestri. He attended public schools and then the Soule College of Commerce.

In 1896 when he was seventeen years of age, his father and his two uncles (all three now dead) formed the “Maestri Furniture Company,” with a store on Rampart Street at the corner of Iberville Street. By 1911, when he was twenty-two, he had saved $1,000 and he made his first real estate investment. Today bankers and business men rate him as one of the largest individual property owners in New Orleans.

Robert Maestri came into political prominence when he supported Huey P. Long for the governorship. He was appointed Commissioner of Conservation, and had put that department – one of the most important branches of the state government – on a sound business basis, in the face of conditions similar to those which confronted him when he became mayor.

Largely through the understanding and personal efforts of Mr. Maestri, political peace as between the city and the state on the one hand and the state and Federal Government on the other was restored, correcting a situation that for years bred strife, uncertainties, personal animosities and bitterness and that made impossible any effective effort to meet the serious problems which New Orleans faced.

Under Maestri’s leadership, “America’s Most Improved City” has paid off its old debts, redeemed itself from technical bankruptcy and liquidated bank loans totaling more than $6,000,000 to become debt free on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Repayment of these debts has saved the city up to $416,000 interest rates annually. The city’s “Red Letter Day” came March 4, 1938 when a note for $508,008.37 held by the American Bank and Trust Company was marked paid, the last installment of the $6,051,928.02 owed to the banks of New Orleans.

“Compare these two pictures: August 17, 1936 – A city on its knees to fate. – March 4, 1938 – A city on its feet soundly facing the future.”

To his balanced judgment, alert business methods and determination to make his city outstanding, “America’s Most Interesting City” owes appreciation.

Mayor Maestri was married by Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel on August 18th, 1938, to Miss Hilda Bertoniere, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bertoniere. She had been the mayor’s secretary for the past thirteen years. They reside with his mother at 2602 Esplanade.